


Settle for Atmosphere

by idoltina



Series: Prompt Fills: Once Upon a Time [6]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:54:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8424337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idoltina/pseuds/idoltina
Summary: Prompt fill for frankenwolf + bubble. Canon divergent post 04.19, set in the somewhat nebulous future. Things are business as usual in Storybrooke -- small town gossip, villains popping out of the woodwork, babies popping out left and right, property damage growing exponentially. In the center of it all, Victor manages to find himself a sort of calm, but it’s not until he’s roped into the eye of someone else’s storm that he reflects on solitude, family, and change.





	

Victor has never really been the paternal sort. Family has always been important to him, to be sure, but he’s never really figured himself all that well suited for fatherhood. He spends too many hours alone, working, prefers the freedoms that come with being single. He likes being able to drink after work, likes being able to travel if he wishes. He’s not -- his bedside manner isn’t the best, perhaps, but it’s not terribly atrocious either. Still, he’s never been all that warm or kind or affectionate toward people -- children in particular. He can’t afford to be, not in his line of work -- or at least, that’s the mentality he’s carried with him since before Storybrooke.

And then his lone wolf had met another, and, well.

He can’t say that Ruby makes him want to be a father -- she’s fairly committed to not having children of her own, anyway. But Ruby catches his attention and holds it, captivates him and tugs at strings he didn’t know he had. She’s not the only person who could understand him or what he’s been through, but she’s the person who knows how to give him space when he needs it, the person who nudges him with a wet nose and bright eyes toward doing the right thing. Ruby is the person who warms his bed at night after a drink or a trip or a particularly rough day. And he thinks, maybe one day, that for all of their roaming, Ruby may be the one to get him not to settle, but to stand still -- to plant roots.

It doesn’t happen when Neal is born, or Phillip, or even Evelyn.

It happens when Regina’s little girl -- a tiny, powerful, unexpected little miracle -- makes a rather dramatic debut into the world during what Victor is fairly certain is a self-made thunderstorm. It happens when Regina holds her daughter for the first time -- when the exhaustion in her eyes gives way to warmth and a smile breaks onto her face. Victor is mesmerized enough by the sight to pause in his clean-up and watch as Robin leans in to kiss her. It’s this -- the picture of pieces of a life he’d helped rob Regina of decades ago -- that anchors him.

And like air, Victor feels hope bubble up inside of him.

In the morning, he detours into the _Happily Ever After Diamond Boutique_ before making his way home.


End file.
